Mt. Adams scouting trip

[Western-Extremist]

So I'm taking a trip up to mt.adams this weekend to do a little last minute scouting. I'm familiar with the area but have never hunted it. I was wondering if anyone with some experience in the area could give me a few pointers. Not looking for your honey hole but would greatly appreciate any advise. I'm in shape. Not afraid to burn some boot leather and I'm looking to hunt the west side of the mountain. Pm me if you don't wanna share with the world. Thanks guys

[headshot5]

Look for water sources/wet areas, especially at this time of year, the farther away from roads the better.  Don't overlook saddles in the terrain where elk cross from one canyon to another.  Also, bring a gun and a bear tag.  If you are spending a couple nights, bring a bugle and touch it off just at dusk.  Don't overdo the bugle though.  They will be talking back now.  It will give you an idea of how far away they are and you can scout those locations the next day.  Good luck    

[BullCrazy24]

So... if you really know the area why do you need pointers? have you hunted before???

[Western-Extremist]

I know the roads from camping ur haven't done much walking around. and yea I have hunted for 15 years. 7 of those archery but normally hunt around St. Helens. Switching it up this year. Hope that answers your question.

[ELKBURGER]

Have fun and be safe! Beautiful country for sure. I'd say start up any of the main trails that lead to the PCT, then dive in either side and parallel the PCT.

[LDennis24]

Headshot pretty much summed it up. I've put my family and friends on elk there several times in dry years.Take the 23 road out of Trout Lake and head North following the Little White Salmon river up to the mountain. Good wet area around Williams Mine. The river comes off the mountain there and you can do your evening locating by bugling from the road and be heard for a long ways. Spend some time scouting road sides for tracks and hit the marsh area northwest of Williams Mine. Lot of area in the forest there with some easy hiking and some nasty hiking! 

[Elkterd]

Bring your therma-cell/bug spray (100% deet), stagman ridge, riley camp, pretty much anything a mile or more off the road (23) you can find elk beautiful country keep your nose in the wind..

[Western-Extremist]

Thanks guys.

[4fletch]

So... if you really know the area why do you need pointers? have you hunted before???

he may have ment he has picked berries next to the road

[Western-Extremist]

I love reading smart ass comments. Makes my day.

[LDennis24]

Let us know how you do on this hunt and don't rule out going west a little ways around the north end of the Indian Heaven Wilderness. Cayuse meadow and Tillicum area has elk in dry years and South Praire has some good area's. Spent alot of time around that place since I was a kid. Makes me wanna tell you a story... One year we had a terrible dry month leading up to bow season and couldn't find elk anywhere so we got out the map and looked for the biggest area without any roads that had water in the middle. I don't hunt bow but I know the area better than anyone else from backpacking and exploring unmarked caves and rock hounding. There's alot of cool caves around there! Anyway, as we headed up the east side of the Indian Heavem Wilderness we found tracks crossing the road right into where we had decided to go. We got out and started counting tracks and making size comparison's when my cousin said "hey there goes some elk!" a couple cows and a calf were standing in the road about 400yds up from us headed into the wet area so we jumped in the pickup, calmly of course, and they just wandered off the road into a sparsly timbered lava flat and as we drove by they stood about 70yds off the road watching us. I told my buddy to keep moving real slow and had my brother step out of the rig as we rolled along and he quickly kneeled down behind a burm of dirt and the cows just kept staring at the pickup. We proceeded to move along and those dang elk just stared at the pickup until we were around the corner and out of site. We pulled over and waited about 5 mins and then turned back and headed towards my brother and the elk. When we rounded the bend my brother was gone and as we got closer he came walking out of the timber and waved us down. He didn't seem to awfully excited so we asked what happened and he said they were so busy watching the pickup that he snuck up to about 40yds from one of the cows and dropped it in it's tracks! He wasn't excited because he said it happened to fast and didn't see where the cow went after he shot. We headed into the woods to find it and I split away from the group thinking I could circle back around the elk and push them to the other guys. Well I'm walking along looking through the tree's when I see a cow and the calf standing about 50yds from me and before I can think someone yells "hey its over here!". I tried to motion that I was looking right at some elk but they thought I was looking for the downed elk and didn't follow me. I let the cow and calf wander off and went over to them and the cow he shot hadn't moved a muscle when he hit it. I told everyone the other elk were still there so we cleaned the cow up and took it back to camp and developed a plan for the next morning. We chased elk all week and everyone we saw asked where they were and we just said we couldn't help them out for fear of being overrun with other hunter's but anyway's the elk are all over up there if you put in the time and effort. Do some homework on a map and then look on Google Earth for better terrain mapping and open area's and wet area's. Lot's of leaf tree's usually mean's water and open area's can too. Have fun and don't get in a hurry in the thick stuff. Stay clear of Bigfoot's Shelter too!